Western Suburbs Magpies have continued their winning start to the new season, overcoming Newcastle 31-18 at Leichhardt Oval in Round 2.
Match: Magpies v Knights
Round 2 -
home Team
Magpies
4th Position
away Team
Knights
11th Position
Venue: Leichhardt Oval, Sydney
After the Knights opened the scoring, Brandon Wakeham and Kitione Kautoga continued their unstoppable combination from Round 1, with a Wakeham short ball putting Kautoga through a hole for Wests’ first of the afternoon.
Dylan Lucas crashed over on the left shortly after for the visitors, before Livai Saukuru scored out of dummy half to give the Magpies a two-point lead at the break.
After the break, James Valevatu made an instant impact when injected into the contest at hooker, as he scored under the posts to extend the Magpies lead beyond a converted try.
After Kautoga was sin-binned for a high tackle after 50 minutes, the Knights capitalised on their numbers advantage when Enari Tuala crossed out wide.
However, Valevatu again showcased speed and power to charge his way over, with the 2022 Wests Tigers Jersey Flegg Cup Player of the Year proving too much to handle for the Newcastle defence.
A Wakeham field goal cemented the result for the Magpies and a late Junior Tupou runaway try was the icing on the cake for another big win for Wests.
